Sleepless in Seoul

Well our trip has been quite an adventure, and between the whirlwind of activity, and the slow or sometimes nonexistent Internet access I have not updated the blog for a quite a while. We are now back home, but only after the ordeal of flying!

On the evening of the 7th, our ever reliable guide and driver picked us up and drove us to the airport, where we paid our $25.00ea (USD) 'exit fee' (what happens if you don't have it I wonder?) cleared security and boarded a Vietnam Airlines flight back to Hanoi.

In Hanoi there was a bit of difficulty as we had no boarding pass yet for our next flight, but we needed a boarding pass to clear customs! Not to worry, once the crowd of Japanese tourists cleared customs our kind customs officer (REALLY!) ran herself out to the Korean Airlines desk and got our boarding passes for us! Then it was another trip through security and on to our plane bound for Seoul where we were to have a tour of the city before boarding our last plane home.

We arrived in the Incheon airport in Seoul tired, grumpy, and unclear as to how we should proceed. After a bit of waiting, wandering, losing our place in line for yet another trip through security we decided the best thing to do would be to go to the Korean Air transfer desk and ask them, as they were the ones who would be providing the trip, a perk for putting up with a 12 hour layover, the other option being a hotel room, which at the time did not sound as enticing, but right now we were considering asking if it was possible to change.

Bad news at the transfer desk though. It seems we were not booked for either a tour NOR a hotel room, somebody had screwed up. Korean Air blamed our travel agent (who was of course pretty much impossible to contact at that point!) I stated that I was pretty sure that she had booked the tour while we were in her office at the time we orginally purchased the tickets, the women behind the KA counter flatly insisted that was not the case! I pointed out, that regardless of where the problem happened that the problem was before us now and would have to be resolved here. No luck, there was notheing she could do.

Now my wife Linda rarely cries, but being pretty close to exhausted, and looking at 12 hours in an airport she began to tear up. I was pretty much left speachless at the women's response and just stood at the counter waiting for something to happen, which of course nothing did. We left and sat down at a nearby table. After stewing for a bit I went back up to the counter and asked to speak to the women's supervisor, which I was permited to do, with basically the same result, not tour, no hotle, no compensation for our trouble of any kind, not even so much as an apology. all I got was a suggestion that we use the rest and relaxation area at the airport (which was pretty much full.) I don't think that I will be flying Korean Air again. Airlines are notorious for poor service, but this pretty much took the cake for me.

Linda and I sat back down at the table for a bit, then lugged our carry-on luggage in search of a place to rest. We finally found a bench we both could kind of sleep on and spent the next 4 hours in fitfull naps - o glorius air travel!

Eventually the 12 hour clock wound down and we were able to board our final flight bound for home, but not until we had suffered a hand search of all our carry on bags! Seems security had found something they did not like in a passenger's checked bagaage, so everyone had their carry-on bags searched as they boarded the plane!

The rest of our trip home was pretty much routine. A long flight, a quick trip through immigrations and customs then a shuttle ride home.

It has been a great trip, but it does feel good to be home! There is still a lot to tell, from Hanoi, down the coast of Vietnam to Saigon, and then days of exploring the Angkor temples in Cambodia - so stay tuned, I will fill the rest of the trip in soon!